escapee has violent past

A man who escaped from the Montgomery County Jail Sunday was no stranger to incarceration or escape. According to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, 40-year-old Britt Chadvurn Privatte of Sugarland was booked into the jail on January 7 on multiple charges. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because the January arrest made news when Amergy Bank in Kingwood was robbed. Later that afternoon Harris County Deputies pounced on him and his two accomplices after tracking a money bag from the bank to a Race Track gas station on Interstate 45 and FM 2920 in Spring.

Privatte was also charged with three counts of Aggravated Robbery in Fort Bend County; Burglary of a Habitation in Harris County; a misdemeanor warrant from Walker County and Escape while in Custody in Harris County. He has a lengthy arrest record in Texas and North Carolina.

Privatte also made news last May, when he was indicted on three felony charges in Walker County in connection with a January 2012 incident when he nearly seriously injured a Huntsville Police Officer.

The incident occurred at a Huntsville area park, when officers responded to a suspicious person report and found a shirtless Privatte sitting in PT Cruiser, smoking marijuana. When they tried to get Privatte out of the car, he instead attempted to flee with an officer caught leaning in the window. Privatte dragged the officer several feet before the officer managed to get free. A second officer who had approached the vehicle on the passenger side and was also stuck, somehow got inside the moving vehicle with the suspect who then crashed the vehicle into a guardrail and was apprehended. Both officers received minor injuries. Privatte already had a lengthy criminal record from North Carolina, with offenses ranging from auto theft, larceny, breaking and entering and drug charges. Those arrests date back to when he was 18. Since juvenile records are sealed, it is unknown how early his criminal career began.

As of midnight Sunday, Privatte remained at large and law enforcement did not appear any closer to recapturing him than when he was discovered missing at 1 p.m., despite a large scale manhunt including K-9 units and assistance from the Conroe Police Department and the Texas Rangers.

He was last seen in the jail’s recreation yard, where investigators believe he scaled a wall inside the yard and broke through the upper part of the fencing to reach the roof. There is no information regarding any theories as to where he went from there.

For some, Privatte’s Sunday escape brings back bad memories of a Sunday night in May of 1994, when three prisoners escaped through the jail’s ceiling, including a man charged with Capital Murder. Those escapees made their way to Sammons Elementary School in Aldine I.S.D. which lies in northwest Harris County. There they attempted unsuccessfully to carjack two separate school employees vehicles before fleeing from the area.

The three identified were James Zarychta, who was charged with Capital murder after killing a homeowner who walked in as they were robbing his home near FM 2978. Five days later Zarychta turned himself in to the Tomball Police Chief.

The other two Martin Harold Jones and David Allen Kelly were captured two days after the escape.

Privatte is described as 5 feet 9 inches, and 140 pounds. He should be considered dangerous and anyone who may know the whereabouts of the escaped prisoner or has information they believe could be useful should call 936-760-5800 (Option 3) 24 hours a day or should contact their local law enforcement immediate.

Crime Stoppers will pay up to a $1000 cash reward for information leading to an arrest or indictment of a felony crime. Call 800-392-STOP (7867). Anonymous tips can also be made through the Montgomery County Crime Stoppers WEB PAGE at

This trash could turn up anywhere…close to the jail, or far away. After these dangerous folks escape once…well, I have no problem with them being kept in leg irons all the time unless directly supervised. Let’s put a stop to these “Huddini” bad guys by keeping them chained and secure. Someone over at County needs to hire a security engineer to evaluate other vulnerable places in our jail.